One of the NHL’s busiest off-season clubs is Ottawa. The Senators got new ownership, made a high-profile trade for Alex DeBrincat, whom they acquired just a year ago, but in exchange signed Vladimir Tarasenko to a one-year contract. Now Ottawa has handed out one of the biggest contracts of the offseason: defenseman Jake Sanderson received an eight-year, $64.4 million ($8.05 million) contract. Important clarification: Sanderson is 21 years old and has only played one season in the NHL.
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Just a week before this news, Senators leader Brady Tkachuk told reporters: “I consider him the most underrated player in the NHL. He transferred from college and made our team better from the first game. His speed, his hockey sense and his work ethic are unmatched. I haven’t seen anyone work like him. That was pretty impressive…he’s going to be a tremendous player for Ottawa. Well now at least in terms of bank account, Sanderson will not be underestimated. But how did he get so much money?
The NCAA guard was selected fifth overall in the 2020 NBA Draft. “Sanderson has incredible skating and is a true two-way defenseman – he is good on both ends of the ice. It’s not that Jake has elite offensive ability, but he reads the game well, he knows when to press and he won’t push the tempo just to force the tempo. Defensively, Sanderson is one of the best players this year: he’s not afraid to be strong and rarely loses ground,” ESPN analyst Chris Peters wrote in 2020.
Ottawa surprised many when they took the defenseman with the fifth pick in the draft: he had a lower grade. For a long time, experts believed he was more of a stay-at-home defenseman with some flashes of playing in the outside zone, but while playing in the NCAA, Sanderson greatly improved his offensive skills and began scoring a point per game. in the university league. Before moving to the NHL, Jake had few opportunities to prove himself at the highest level: the 2022 World Cup was postponed due to Covid and the defenseman was injured in the first game of the Beijing Olympics.
Jake Sanderson (right)
Photo: Adrian Wyld/AP/TASS
However, last fall, the young defenseman was expected to start the season in the Senators’ starting lineup – the depth of their defense seemed quite weak. It is significant that Jake immediately found a permanent partner: the Sanderson-Travis Hamonic duo spent 750 minutes on the ice and became Ottawa’s most constant combination. A seasoned homebody with extensive NHL experience helped the young defenseman adjust to the big leagues, although Jake didn’t play as often.
Sanderson improved dramatically in the second half of the season: Thomas Chabot’s injury affected the team, but it became an opportunity for the young defender. Jake took a spot on the blue team on the first special team and before long began producing numbers on par with the best “point guards” in the league. Sanderson began to receive 24-25 minutes per game and endless praise from his coach and manager. The defender was immediately tasked with going after the McDavids and the MacKinnons, not hiding to adapt.
In principle, this is not the first case of its kind in Ottawa. Centers Josh Norris and Tim Stützle already received their contracts up front, and the risk paid off: the German struck out 95 last year. Now the Senators will have five players earning around $8 million and two defenders at the same time: Thomas Chabot has the same control as Sanderson, they will play in different pairs. Maybe the club will consider trading a rather traumatic player?
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All this makes us think once again about the mechanics of contracts in the modern NHL. Typically, the big money coming out of their rookie contracts were the guys who were immediately stellar, not just “very good” (Sanderson scored 32 points in 77 games), and their names are well known without further ado. The rest had to be tested once again, but now managers began to draw up large contracts in advance. For example, in January of this year, 21-year-old Minnesota forward Matt Boldy received $49 million for seven years, who in Kaprizov’s absence became the leader of the team’s attack.
The league continues to operate under a “flat” roof, which for a long time, due to the consequences of the financial hit from the coronavirus, was only cosmetically increased. It should soon resume explosive growth with money from a lucrative television deal with ESPN and TNT, plus the NHL will sign a new contract in the Canadian market in three years. Next season it should increase to 87.5 million dollars and, in the absence of force majeure, add about 5 million more in the 2025/26 championship.
As the example of the NBA has shown, even a sharp increase in the cap will quickly be “eaten up” due to the corresponding increase in the appetite of players and their representatives. In this case, as some coaches argue, it is more logical and cheaper, given the temporarily reduced cap, to immediately give the player $7-8 million than to pay a conditional $4 million for three years, and then be forced to give ten at the same time. once. It is clear that the “bridges” will not disappear completely, but the NHL management decided to give the players a lot of money right away.
At the same time, another young defender will sign his second adult contract and must cross the $10 million barrier. During his five seasons in the league, we have become accustomed to seeing Rasmus Dahlin as if he is already approaching 30 years old, and he is only 23, and this year he finishes a “bridge” of six million. For a defenseman who scored almost a point per game, the numbers are logical, but of course, considering how generously they choose to spend money in Ottawa, the amount already seems understated.
Rasmus Dahlin
Photo: John Minchillo/AP/TASS
The long-term nature of contract signing in the NHL creates a fun parallel reality where people of different talent and stardom can play for roughly the same amount of money because they were lucky enough to sign at the right time. Sanderson’s contract is equivalent to 85% of Cale Makar’s. However, can we say that Jake now contributes to his team 85% of the contribution that Makar brings to the Colorado game? For now, this will be an extremely bold assumption.
However, at the moment this is not an issue for Sanderson, it’s just that Makar was unlucky to sign a contract at the worst financial moment in the NHL in the last 30 years. Most likely, such contracts will soon be considered the norm, and hockey players’ salaries will gradually approach basketball salaries, as hockey players have long dreamed of agents. This is the new financial reality and the numbers will be scary at first.
